Hsbc Holdings PLC Buys 885,417 Shares of W.R. Berkley Corporation $WRB

Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in W.R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE:WRB) by 104.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,735,958 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 885,417 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned 0.46% of W.R. Berkley worth $121,934,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in W.R. Berkley by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 282,266 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $19,793,000 after buying an additional 37,999 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors boosted its position in W.R. Berkley by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 6,730 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $472,000 after acquiring an additional 463 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in W.R. Berkley by 47.3% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 35,525 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,491,000 after acquiring an additional 11,400 shares during the period. Dean Capital Management raised its position in shares of W.R. Berkley by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Dean Capital Management now owns 33,170 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,326,000 after acquiring an additional 1,013 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mcguire Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of W.R. Berkley in the 4th quarter worth about $88,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W.R. Berkley Stock Performance

NYSE WRB opened at $72.09 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $26.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.27, a PEG ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. W.R. Berkley Corporation has a 12-month low of $62.87 and a 12-month high of $78.96.

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.18 billion. W.R. Berkley had a net margin of 12.64% and a return on equity of 18.92%. The business’s revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.01 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that W.R. Berkley Corporation will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.R. Berkley Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This is an increase from W.R. Berkley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. W.R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.47%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on WRB. Wells Fargo & Company lowered W.R. Berkley from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $64.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on W.R. Berkley from $73.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Weiss Ratings cut W.R. Berkley from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Evercore reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of W.R. Berkley in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of W.R. Berkley from $74.00 to $66.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W.R. Berkley presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $68.31.

About W.R. Berkley

W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: WRB) is a publicly traded insurance holding company that underwrites and sells commercial property and casualty insurance, specialty insurance products, and reinsurance. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the company operates a portfolio of underwriting businesses that focus on niche and specialty commercial risks, offering coverage tailored to industries such as transportation, construction, professional services and other commercial lines.

The company’s product mix includes primary and excess casualty, property, professional liability, environmental and other specialty lines, together with treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions.